Bits of a Whole
by Okuyukashii
Summary: ShikaIno—drabble collection—Cloud watching, missions, and everything in between. 4: His action was sweeter than she knew. If there was such a thing as karma, it'd better pay him back.
1. Bubbles

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_darling  
it's love_

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[_Bubbles_]  
**_O_**_kuyukashii_

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**I don't own Naruto. Metaphors are awesome and reviews are appreciated :)**

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Ino Yamanaka sits in a field blowing bubbles, and she pops them with a dainty finger, one after another. She is bored out of her mind, and Shikamaru Nara sits beside her. The only reason Shikamaru is sitting up instead of lying down on the grass like he always does is because Ino hit him with a stick. He decides he can see the clouds fine sitting.

With nothing to do, it's no wonder that Ino's mind starts to wander. She thinks about the party coming up in a month and a half, her friends' love lives, what she's going to wear tomorrow, and whether or not her best friend will get asked by her ex-crush to the dance next week. As she blows a particularly long chain of bubbles and pops them, she starts to think of the bubbles as goals.

Ino decides blowing a bubble is like setting a goal. She creates them and decides whether they will be big or small. That's close enough, right? So she blows bubbles, gives a dream to each one and pops each of them, imagining the popping motion to be accomplishing the goal, reaching her dreams.

There is no wind today, so she can easily reach all of the bubbles.

Then she blows a bubble that floats just a little higher than her arm can reach.

(_I am going to find someone I love._)

Ino thinks it would be too troublesome to get up just to pop a single bubble—she has been hanging around Shikamaru _way_ too long—so she lets her arm drop and gets ready to blow some more bubbles. (She is a little disappointed, yes, but these are just bubbles, after all.)

Her actions don't go unnoticed.

Shikamaru, her thinks-everything-is-troublesome, wouldn't-get-up-unless-someone-threw-a-kunai-at-him-and-maybe-not-even-then, lazy ass teammate _gets up_.

He pops it for her.


	2. Back When

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_we count the lifetimes..._

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[_back when_]  
**_O_**_kuyukashii_

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**I don't own Naruto. Oh my. The italics almost sorta kinda rhyme.**

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**_b.e.f.o.r.e—w.e—d.i.e.d_**

"_Do you like me?"  
he said, with all the solemnity a child  
his age could muster.  
_"…_yes,"  
she said, fidgeting all the while.  
She thought for a moment.  
"Do you like me back?"  
_"_Of course."_

_[it echoes]_

**_b.e.f.o.r.e—w.e—d.i.e.d_**

But that was ages ago.

[_æons, lifetimes, however you define forever—_]

It was before they were strong enough to kill and before they were strong enough to be indifferent about it. It was when they had no cares and could care, back when their eyes were bright and their smiles genuine. It was a lifetime ago, when they saw all the world had to offer and were blind to everything wrong about it.

[_a young boy helps that baa-san carry her bags and a few eternities after, kills a wealthier one from an allied village on a mission_]

It was before friends that were girls and Uchihas and crushes and insults and teams and exams and leaving and retrieving and crying and breaking and—

**_a.f.t.e.r—t.h.e—f.a.l.l_**

"_Ino. The Hokage wants to see you,"  
he said, not entirely happy at being made the messenger.  
_"_Coming Shikamaru,"  
she said, still focused on what was in front of her.  
She looked up from her work.  
"Are we going on a mission together?"  
_"_Of course."_

_[and the words are gone and no one cares]_

**_a.f.t.e.r—t.h.e—f.a.l.l_**

Because missions aren't dates, and blood, corpses, and white masks aren't romantic.

_But romance is from ages ago, when—_


	3. On Clichés

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._  
'cause we all secretly want that love confession  
that kiss in the rain_

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[_On Clichés_]  
_**O**__kuyukashii_

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**I don't own Naruto. Why is it that we read stories that have the same plot over and over? Because, there is still a part of us that appreciates it, right?**

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"Like, ew."

Ino was currently staring at a computer screen and wrinkling her nose. Perched atop her soft chair and resting her chin on her hand, elbow on the desk, she clicked the mouse a few times and turned around.

"Shika...are you _listening_?" she whined.

"..."

"_Shi-ka-ma-ru_..."

Shikamaru, on the other hand, was lying on his back on the bed, staring at the clouds he had gotten Sai to paint on his ceiling. He recognized the 'answer-me-or-face-my-wrath' whine and grudgingly replied.

"Yes...Ino?"

"Ok, like, this story here is _so_ cliché because it uses, like, that one scene, you know, with the 'do you like me', 'no', sad face, 'I love you' plot. And like, how many times do we need to read the _same stupid thing_? All the author did was, like, change some tiny details. Isn't that, like, _so_ annoying?"

Cue teenage male brain freeze. Luckily, being the genius Shikamaru is, he got over the spasm he had from hearing so much in such a short time period—not to mention the 'like' overload—and understood what Ino had been trying to say.

"That's...bad?"

"Well, no duh! All I want is, like, a little originality, is that so hard to do?"

Ino paused. She had apparently just heard what she said and remembered that Shikamaru was a _guy_ and that it wasn't necessary to talk his ears off. (She had Sakura for that, after all.)

"Oh my gosh, I am _so_ sorry, I was ranting wasn't I? And now you're going to _sigh_ and tell me I'm _troublesome_ and _leave_ and—"

Shikamaru did not want Ino to go on a rant again—the longest one had lasted for three days, stopping only when they parted and resuming again the next day. So he used his brain for something good—the state of sanity that he currently had.

"Would it be cliché if I told you that you're not troublesome?"

* * *

**I do talk like **_**that**_** sometimes. Only in my normal voice. It's habit, okay?**


	4. Obscure Favours

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[_Obscure Favours_]  
_**O**__kuyukashii_

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**I don't own Naruto. I do own a pack of expensive student bus tickets.**

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A shadow slid over the screen of her iTouch and Ino squinted and looked up. Seeing the familiar face, she brightened.

"Hey," she greeted happily.

"Hn."

"You know that doesn't really work for you, right?" the blonde laughed.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. Did you buy the bus tickets?"

Her (perfectly painted) nails froze over the keys and she thought for a second. "Oops."

She was supposed to have bought the bus tickets because her mom couldn't drive her tomorrow. But everything just became so trou—busy that it slipped her mind. So she had mindlessly walked for almost an hour home, completely forgetting that she didn't buy the damn tickets yet.

Another sigh slipped from Shikamaru's mouth as he watched Ino stare into the distance, thinking about something he didn't particularly care to know about. He dug around in his messenger bag and pulled out something light green.

"Here," he said, not looking at her when he handed her the pack of student bus tickets.

"What..."

"I knew you'd forget to buy them," Shikamaru scoffed.

Ino glared and hit him on the arm, but she took the offered pack. It was unfair that these tiny pieces of card paper cost twenty dollars.

As Shikamaru turned to leave, she smiled.

"Hey...thanks."

He smirked and continued walking again.

* * *

"_Shikamaru_!" The shriek rang throughout the house.

"How many times did I tell you to buy the bus tickets? I remind you, time after time, and you _never listen_!"

He tuned out of his mom's usual screaming. Like always, her firecracker temper would quiet down quickly. If he was lucky, she would grumble but leave the house late at night to buy him his tickets anyway.

His mother sighed, "Are you _ever_ going to remember to buy tickets?"

He shrugged.

* * *

**Thank you all for the reviews! (This is a lot more popular than I thought it'd be, for a bunch of dead-end ideas.)**

**Um...more please? XD**


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